Monday, November 27, 2017

A Family Thanksgiving Psalm

A Thanksgiving Psalm
from Rick & Carol Wallis’ Thanksgiving Table
Written by family members sharing thanksgivings for God’s gifts
To be said or sung antiphonally; loosely based on Psalm 136


Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good,
            for his steadfast love endures forever

Give thanks to the Lord of lords,
            for his steadfast love endures forever

to him who provided a new rental house
            for his steadfast love endures forever

and a job with friends as team members
            for his steadfast love endures forever

to him who has given us local friends and family
            for his steadfast love endures forever

and a new season for pursuing college plans
            for his steadfast love endures forever

to him who provides important work to do
            for his steadfast love endures forever

Monday, November 20, 2017

"Bear one another's burdens..."

Since October 9th, we have experienced “community” through a wide variety of gifts and helps. It was in meals brought to our house, or errands run by neighbors; it was through the gift of friends taking time to “house sit” with our son, and family taking time away from work or school to visit and help in practical ways. In these and in other ways, we were gifted with real expressions of community.

Why? When you’re sent to a hospital with a medical emergency, and then you’re in ICU for two weeks, you are in real need of practical “community!”

In the upcoming weeks on this blog, we’ll share some stories about what we've experienced and learned about Christ-centered “community” that will hopefully encourage you to be an active part of each other’s lives. 

We believe that each of us is already part of someone’s community, and that Christ wants to show each of us how to share his life and his love in community with others.

This week, some thoughts about how community comes with a cost.

Every gift or help we received during my hospital stay had one thing in common – each gift was not convenient for the giver. In fact, caring for one another is not “convenient,” by definition. You must give up something in order to care for some one.

Time is limited. Money is limited. And our personal energy is limited. So, in order to “be” a Christ focused community, it will cost; and that means we will usually be inconvenienced.

That’s why we are called to “Bear one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.” (Galatians 6.2)  We can help shoulder a burden, and that involves a certain amount of sacrifice and effort to pick up and carry a “burden.”

But being a community in Christ is not a legalistic work; it is a spiritual expression of love for each other. The love or empathy we feel for others will make the giving sweet and holy.

This is expressed by the apostle John when he wrote: “By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers. But if anyone has the world's goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God's love abide in him? Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth.” (1 John 3.16-18)